Majority and minority influence using the afterimage paradigm: A replication with an unambiguous blue slide
✍ Scribed by Dr. Robin Martin
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1995
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 638 KB
- Volume
- 25
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0046-2772
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This study re-examines the afterimage paradigm which claims to show that a minority produces a conversion in a task involving afterimage judgements (more private influence than public influence) as opposed to mere compliance produced by a majority. Subsequent failures to replicate thisJinding have suggested that the changes in the afterimages could be attributed to increased attention due to an ambiguous stimulus coupled with subject suspiciousness. This study attempted to replicate the original experiment but with an unambiguous stimulus in order to remove potential biases. The results showed shifts in afterimages consistent with the increased attention hypothesis for a minority and majority and these were unafected by the level of suspiciousness reported by the subjects. Additional data shows that no shifts were found in a no-influence control condition showing that shijts were related to exposure to a deviant source and not to response repetition.